BungeeAir Power Wireless Security Tether and Battery Case Review

It’s like a car alarm for your phone, but is that a good thing?

We all know what happened when that iPhone 4 prototype got left in a Silicon Valley bar. A journalist’s house got raided, two guys got a year of probation, and an Apple employee ended up with a lot of ’splainin’ to do. The whole situation could have been avoided if Apple had used Kensington’s BungeeAir case.

BungeeAir is billed as a wireless security system. There’s the case itself (which also includes a 1500mAh battery), a keychain fob, and the free companion app for your iPhone. Wander too far from your phone, and the fob beeps and vibrates, and your phone locks. The default range is supposedly 75 feet, but more than a few times we triggered the alarm walking to the other side of the room.

The alarm works if you’re the absentminded type who leaves your phone behind in bars or on your dresser, but theft security this is not--taken out of range, the phone stays silent, while your keychain fob makes all the noise. Also, the alarm often sounded when the phone and fob were right next to each other--unpleasant, especially in the middle of the night. And even in a small apartment, we’re able to cover enough ground to set off the alarm, forcing us to grab our keys to go to the bathroom. On the plus side, if you misplace your phone, or your keys, you can activate alarms to help you find them in between the couch cushions.

The bottom line. It’ll juice up your phone, and keep you from leaving it behind in a bar. But the BungeeAir doesn’t add much real security, and frequent false alarms led us to turn it off in frustration anyway.